Archive - Blog entry

February 5th, 2006

On my way to my grandmother's yesterday, I stopped off at Shirley's Yarn & Gifts (Rte. 1 in Hancock, Maine, if you ever find yourself in the neighborhood) to see what they had on hand. They've got some really nice yarns and the staff are all very friendly, so I always enjoy visiting there. Anyway, just before I could ask, one of the staff pointed out to me that they had just gotten in some Malabrigo yarn, which I've been dreaming about for a while now and really obsessing on recently. If you haven't seen/touched it before, it's a wonderfully soft merino singles yarn, all handpainted. It's kind of like a yarn version of heroin - one touch and you're addicted. It's the kind of yarn that makes you want to strip down and jump naked into a giant vat of it...really! It's...well, you get the picture.

Years ago when I was first learning to knit, I had a couple of friends who knew how and I was discussing my progress with them. Over the course of the conversation, one of them happened to say, "Oh yes, and knitting is great because you can do so many other things while you're knitting." To myself, I thought, "Uh, OK. Whatever you say." But, I had to resist my desperate urge to wholeheartedly disagree. Surely I listen to music or the radio or I listen to what's on TV with only the occasionaly quick glance up, but to what the hell else could she have possibly been referring? Reading? Sex? At this point, I guess I'll never know.

February 3rd

A slow period at work gave me a chance to finish up the love blanket square. It turned out almost exactly the correct size, so blocking it should be a cinch. I should be able to get it washed, blocked and off in the mail Monday. I was also able to knit up a swatch of the new Silky Tweed yarn. I've attached photos of both.

After work, I'm planning on driving 3 1/2 hours to my grandmother's for her birthday. I'm thinking it won't be that fun a drive on little or no sleep, but it's my favorite place in the world. How could you not love a place that looks like this? Aside from that, there's a really nice little LYS on the way that I haven't visited since the summer. I only want to touch the yarn...no, really. :-)

February 1st

I like to use every spare minute knitting but I'm hesitant to pick it up when I have a few free moments if I'm not certain I can finish the row in the time available. I've been told by several seasoned knitters that one never leaves off in the middle of a row for various reasons such as: it will leave a hole, the stitch will be misshapen or there will be a line in the knitting. I have never read anything about this in any knitting book. It's not like I'll leave it this way for long; I knit every day. This fear of creating an additional problem prevents me from utilizing all those odd spare moments of the day.

Work is progressing on the love blanket square. My wrist is complaining a little, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it tonight or not. I guess we'll see.

I also had some yarn delivered to me at work. It's some Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed that I ordered to make the elephant from the toy book David got me.

He said a few times that he liked the elephant, so I'm planning on working on it here at work in secret for his birthday in May. I also got a bit extra in the grey and a skein of red, probably to make a scarf for myself at so

January 31st

Even though my wrists are still bothering me a bit, I cast on today and started working on a panel for "love blanket" members of the glb-knit listserv are making for a (now former) list member who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

I decided to use some of the yarn I had bought at Rhinebeck last October that I'd originally planned to use in a hat. One ball is a really deep, solid purple and the other is space-dyed in complementary shades of red, purple & blue. I don't know if the intent was to make them so that they'd go together so well, but I suspect it was at least partly so, as I also got a ball of a rich chocolate brown with a complementary ball space-dyed in compatible warm earth tones from the same vendor.

I debated about what to do for pattern, but I finally settled on a courthouse steps design derived from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. It's simple but very homey, and it ties into my love of quilts nicely. I can also complete short strips and set it aside if my wrists need a rest. For the center square, I made an intarsia heart in the variegated yarn on purple background. It's my first intarsia, but it's small and simple and turned out quite nicely. I'll post photos when the block is done.